Once we give up the sightseeing visits and begin to get serious about our recovery, it doesn’t take long to begin experiencing the benefits.  As one fellowship puts it, “We will know a new freedom and a new happiness.”

However, it’s easy to romanticize our active addiction when we’re still new, and conveniently forget the reality.  Shrinks call that euphoric recall.  It has killed a lot of addicts.  One of the best defenses against relapse is remembering what it was like, and concentrating on how much better things are now.

We can make a list of the good things we have discovered on one side of a page, and then opposite each of them we can list the things in our addiction that we would be willing to trade for.  I’m guessing that the right-hand column will be pretty short.  It certainly is for me!